VOTE: Are food chains with cult followings, like Dunkin’ Donuts, worth the hype?

Monday’s announcement that, as part of its continuing West Coast expansion, Dunkin’ Donuts will launch the first of nine new outposts in the San Francisco Bay Area starting in 2017 had local fans of the East Coast doughnut chain in a tizzy.

Among the members of the Food + Home staff, some (including myself) just didn’t get what the hype was all about. Stale, mass-produced doughnuts? No thanks. Others were a bit more excited, stating that while the doughnuts are just so-so, Dunkin’s coffee is really where it’s at.

What do you think? Take our poll, which includes international chains, like the not-even-open-yet San Jose location of dumpling giant, Din Tai Fung, as well as national and local restaurants, and vote on which deserve cultdom status.